Belle Gunness Female Serial Killer La Porte Indiana 1908: Hell's Belle Black Widow Lonely Hearts Murders, 40 Dead, Unsolved Mystery
Belle Gunness La Porte Indiana 1908. America's first prolific female serial killer. A lonely hearts scammer who lured at least 40 men to her farm with promises of marriage, poisoned them, bashed their skulls with a meat cleaver, and buried them in her hog pen. Then her farmhouse burned down with a headless woman inside five inches too short and fifty pounds too light to be Belle. Did she die in that fire or escape with a suitcase full of cash? THE CASE Belle Gunness born Brynhild Paulsdatte...
Belle Gunness La Porte Indiana 1908. America's first prolific female serial killer. A lonely hearts scammer who lured at least 40 men to her farm with promises of marriage, poisoned them, bashed their skulls with a meat cleaver, and buried them in her hog pen. Then her farmhouse burned down with a headless woman inside five inches too short and fifty pounds too light to be Belle. Did she die in that fire or escape with a suitcase full of cash?
THE CASE
Belle Gunness born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset in Selbu Norway moved to Chicago in 1881 and married Mads Sorenson. Their confectionery store burned down, insurance payout. Their house burned down, insurance payout. Two children died in infancy, both insured. On July 30, 1900, Mads died on the one day his two life insurance policies overlapped. Belle collected $8,500 and bought a pig farm in La Porte Indiana. In 1902 she married Peter Gunness. Eight months later a sausage grinder fell off a shelf and crushed his skull. Another insurance payout.
Starting in 1903, Belle placed personal ads in Norwegian newspapers: "Comely widow who owns a large farm desires to make acquaintance of gentleman equally well provided. Triflers need not apply." She lured wealthy bachelors to La Porte with promises of marriage. Andrew Helgelien arrived with $2,900 in January 1908. Gone the next day. Ole Budsberg, John Moe, George Berry, Henry Gurholt all disappeared after visiting with cash.
On April 28, 1908, the farmhouse burned to the ground. Four bodies in the basement: three children and a headless woman. When Helgelien's brother Asle arrived demanding answers, they dug in the hog pen on May 3. They found Andrew in a burlap sack. Then eleven more complete sets of remains. Dismembered torsos, separated limbs. Thousands of tourists descended on La Porte to watch. America's first true crime tourism event.
The headless woman was five inches shorter and fifty pounds lighter than Belle. Workers found Belle's false teeth in the rubble, pristine despite the fire. Farmhand Ray Lamphere confessed on his deathbed that Belle killed a woman as body double, drugged her children, set the fire, and escaped. In 1931, Esther Carlson was arrested in Los Angeles for poisoning elderly men. Two men who knew Belle identified Carlson's body as Belle Gunness. DNA testing in 2007 was inconclusive.
SOURCES
Harold Schechter "Hell's Princess" (2018), La Porte County Historical Society archives, Ray Lamphere trial testimony (1908), Andrew Helgelien letters, Chicago Tribune and La Porte Herald (1908), Esther Carlson files (1931), Stephen Nawrocki forensic report University of Indianapolis (2007), Norwegian immigration records, Insurance documents.
WARNING: This episode contains discussion of serial murder, dismemberment, child death, poisoning, and domestic violence.
DISCLAIMER: The Belle Gunness case represents real tragedies. While we approach this with dark humor as a coping mechanism, we acknowledge the victims deserved justice. This episode is based on historical records and academic research.
We're Kathryn and Gabriel. We cover true crime, unsolved mysteries
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